Reconstituted tobacco is of important commercial significance today for economic and other reasons and is commonly used in the manufacture of cigarettes and similar smoking articles. Reconstituted tobacco comprises primarily tobacco pieces too small for use in regular manufacture of cigarettes, referred to as waste or scrap tobacco, formed into a sheet which can be handled and utilized in cigarette manufacture in a similar manner to hold tobacco leaf. Differences resulting from structural modification may also make it desirable to reconstitute tobacco leaf.
There are basically two commonly known, commercially employed, processes for preparing reconstituted tobacco. One employs a slurry, of finely divided tobacco parts and a binder, which is cast onto a steel band and then dried. After drying, the sheet is shredded and used as a cigarette filler. The second commonly known process employs papermaking techniques and does not require the addition of a binder.
Several recent examples of processes which have been developed for forming reconstituted tobacco, particularly by the papermaking process, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,428,053; 3,415,253; 3,561,451; 3,467,109; 3,483,874; 3,870,054; 3,860,012 and 3,847,164 and U.K. Patent Nos. 1,194,477; 1,230,576; 1,171,878; 1,372,510; 1,342,029; 1,341,069 and 1,365,087.